


Hideaway

by hadrons_collide



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-21
Updated: 2012-10-21
Packaged: 2017-11-16 18:39:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hadrons_collide/pseuds/hadrons_collide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>April is a runaway bride and Ben is her accomplice.  Alternate canon post-Fancy Party (3x09).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hideaway

It's not until the next morning, when he wakes up to see April's bare shoulders peeking out over the hotel sheets, that Ben realizes he made a mistake being the accomplice to her runaway bride.

The thought didn't occur to him at all when he drove them away from Pawnee, away from their possible futures- his with the Pawnee government, with Leslie, and hers with Andy.

It definitely didn't occur to him when she pressed him against the door of the apartment he had in Indianapolis, just for whenever he happened to be in town, and kissed him, hard and purposeful, like she was trying to forget everything that had happened in her life up until that point.

He probably should have said something before he fucked her into the barely-used mattress- maybe when she was zipping herself out of her makeshift wedding dress. There probably should have been a warning flag there.

Ben drags a hand across her bare shoulders to wake her, trying desperately not to think of the last time his hands were there, when she was moaning his name, moaning god Ben just fuck me, just fucking fuck me. There's a mouth-shaped mark on her shoulder, and Ben knows he put it there.

He murmurs her name and she rolls over to look at her, dark hair spread out across the pillow. April doesn't say a word, just kisses him, and Ben knows he shouldn't give in again, but her lips are soft against his and when she crawls on top of him he slides his hands up her hips and there's no way he's going to turn her down.

When April rolls off of him, she walks straight to the bathroom and turns on the shower, leaving Ben alone with his thoughts for a while. He's still not sure why he even went in to see April in the first place, it should have been Leslie, or Ron, or hell, even Chris. He's not even sure he'd ever had a one-on-one conversation with April until he poked his head into her room and saw her struggling to open up the window.

"Trying to get some air?" He'd asked casually, but there was a look in her eyes he'd never seen before. From the time he'd spent with April, he'd always seen her as strong, very sure of herself, but in that moment she looked terrified.

"Yeah, sorta," she muttered.

"Need help with that?" He pointed at the window and she nodded sadly. Ben's not the strongest person ever, and it's an old window, so it took both of them to open it, but when they finally did, April took a long, deep breath, then grabbed a duffel from next to the bed.

"Wait, hold on, are you- are you running away?"

She turned to look at him. "Figuratively and literally. I don't really have a car." She paused for a moment, considering him. "Do you?"

Ben knew what she was asking, knew what she wanted him to do. He only hesitated for a moment, a moment where he thought that maybe life would be easier if he just pressed pause for a while and stayed here in Pawnee, with Leslie. But it wasn't that simple- he didn't know how Leslie felt, he didn't know if he wanted to stay working with Chris- it sucked being on the road all the time, going from city to city, but he was used to it, it was his routine.

So he nodded. "I'll meet you out front in a couple minutes."

April didn't say a word the entire way to Indianapolis, just stared out the window into the dark.

When Ben thinks about it now, he probably should have at least asked her why. Why she was running. He knew why he was running, but April...she was a complete mystery.

He doesn't know anything about her. He starts making coffee, enough for two, but he can't remember if he's ever seen her drink it. He's never really paid enough attention to her to notice.

Apparently she does, because when April finally makes her way into the kitchen, damp hair hanging down her back, she shuffles through cabinets till she finds a mug and pours herself a cup. She gives him a half-smile when she sits down opposite him at the table, and they drink their coffee in silence.

"Thanks," April finally says, and Ben looks up at her curiously.

"For what?" he asks.

She takes one more sip of coffee and puts her mug down before she answers. "For not asking why."

Ben matches her half-smile from earlier. "Sometimes it's just easier to run."


End file.
